by Amy Boyles
And an even better question was—could I forgive myself?
Chapter 20
The night of the union of the souls had arrived. Cordelia was still hanging around, though she had been pretty sulky lately.
I couldn’t blame her. The new Amelia was pretty different. Much more girlie girl and also more assertive toward Cordelia.
As in, she didn’t take any of Cord’s crap. It would have been amusing if it wasn’t so frustrating to watch Cordelia be so darned annoyed by the entire situation.
“Gosh, I hope this is my last night here,” Cordelia complained as she yanked on the straps of my corset, cinching me into the pretty much unbreathable contraption of evil.
“I hope so too because I’m tired of hearing you complain about it.”
She yanked the straps hard.
“Ouch!”
“It’s a full moon tonight,” Cordelia said. “That’s good for the union of the souls. As soon as this is over, you’ll forget all about everything else. You might as well not even bother getting married tomorrow because this is the deepest work in the ceremony.”
I smiled. “I know. I can’t wait.”
She huffed, annoyed at me. “There. You’re all set.”
Cordelia walked around front and gasped.
“What? Is something wrong?”
She shook her head. “No. You look absolutely stunning. So beautiful.” My cousin snapped her fingers, and a full-length mirror appeared. “See?”
The deep violet-colored dress stuck to me like a second skin. It had a full skirt, a deeply cut bosom and sleeves that flared dramatically at the shoulders.
“I look like a Disney villain.”
Cordelia laughed. “Spoken like a true witch.”
A bell sounded outside. “Come on. It’s time to go.”
I followed her from the tent. Saltz Swift and Rufus both stood on a platform. Darkness engulfed the town while stars winked from the sky.
Insects chirped and buzzed in the darkness, their chorus of sound setting me at ease.
Rufus took one look at me and feigned fainting. I smiled widely and slowly walked up the steps to join him.
Saltz opened his arms widely. “On this night, the last of the unity ceremony, I welcome all of you who have come to witness the most important of all the rituals—the joining of the souls. This is the event that will bond these two until death. The loyalty they will experience cannot be duplicated or broken. Once this ceremony is complete, they will be bonded to each other forever and joined in a manner that few have ever experienced.
“They will no longer be Pepper Dunn and Rufus Mayes, they will be one—bound in blood, hands, heart, mind and souls.”
He took a deep breath. “For those of you who have not experienced this, the joining of the souls experience was once explained to me like this. Imagine you are a lone piece of metal—gold, if you will. Throughout the week you’ve been fired on, melted, molded and restructured, becoming the best of who you are. Becoming strong and shiny. Finally in the end another piece of metal, just as shiny and strong, is melded to you. That other piece becomes you and is part of you. You are separate but together, joined to where you become one, but still retain your separate bodies. Nothing can break that bond. Nothing manmade. This is the sort of bond I speak of tonight, the sort of bond that changes people and makes them the best of who they are and who they will be.”
I was so ready for this. The culmination of the entire week had landed here, at my feet. My gaze swept out into the crowd briefly.
The trees at the edge of the clearing swayed. I blinked, staring at them for a moment. They seemed to stop moving.
That was strange. Those were the only trees that had moved, and they did so strangely, as if someone stood behind them and was physically parting the boughs.
I shrugged off my discomfort and turned back to Rufus, who smiled widely. He gripped my hands, smoothing his fingers over my knuckles.
“These moments in our lives are not to be taken for granted,” Saltz droned.
Part of me wished he’d just get to the good part. Say the words for the joining of the souls. I was ready, but Saltz liked having a platform and speaking, and he had a captive audience, so it seemed to work out pretty good for him.
The trees rustled again. I glanced over once more, wondering why this one cluster of trees was the only one that was moving.
It couldn’t be the wind. The area was much too confined. What was it?
Rufus cleared his throat. I dragged my gaze from the trees back to him. “Watch me,” he chided.
Right. I was supposed to be paying attention to my soon-to-be husband, not some trees swaying in the breeze.
I pinned my gaze on Rufus and smiled. “Sorry,” I whispered.
“Now for the words,” Saltz announced. “The script that will bind these two, the step right before the legal arrangement that will make them a married couple. These are the words that will sew them together.”
He threaded his fingers and cracked his knuckles dramatically. “Let me begin.”
A scream rang out from the crowd. What could it be now? More skinks? Had Betty even brought her shotgun to deal with a threat like that?
Saltz stopped talking before he even started, and we gazed toward the audience.
At the end of the chairs, right before the clearing, stood a large black werewolf.
I gasped. “Axel.” My gaze darted to the sky. The full moon was upon us. Someone had let him out. Either that, or someone had made sure Axel never made it into captivity.
Betty.
Axel growled and snapped. Women screamed. Wizards threw their cloaks back and readied for attack. Axel stood on the grass, his mouth open, his dark eyes glittering as they trained on the platform.
I knew what he wanted. To stop this. To make it so Rufus and I weren’t joined. This was his plan.
I obviously couldn’t let him. The ceremony had to go on, no matter what.
I moved to leave. Rufus grasped my hand. “What are you doing?”
“Stopping him.”
Rufus scowled. “Are you mad? You’re what he wants. You go out there and there’s no telling what will happen. He’ll attack you. Hurt you.”
I shook my head. “He won’t hurt me.”
“He’s in his beast form,” Rufus argued. “His right mind is gone, lost to us.”
“No,” I said. “He’s still in there. I can reach him.”
Rufus’s eyes sharpened on me. “What? You told me that you couldn’t reach him when Axel was like this. Have you lied to me?”
Rufus’s sharp tone took me by surprise. His sudden anger shocked me, sending a jolt of surprise straight to my spine.
“No, of course I haven’t lied to you. But I can. Look, it’s hard to explain. Just let me talk to him. I can help.”
Axel stood on the lawn patiently waiting for something to happen. Waiting for me to come to him. I had to help. Had to stop this.
“Rufus, please,” I pleaded. “If I go, I can end this.”
He scowled, staring at me as if I’d mortally wounded him. “No. You stay here.” His gaze cut to Saltz. “Make sure of it.”
Rufus dropped my hand and descended the platform.
“No,” I cried. “It’s me he wants.”
Rufus ignored me as he strode through the crowd of people. They were off their chairs now, staring at the beast and waiting for whatever was to come.
Rufus stormed across the lawn, his arms spread wide. “What do you want, wolf? You want to destroy my life? Take my bride away before our souls can be joined? Is that it? No. Not this time.”
Rufus stopped and stared at Axel. Axel calmly glanced back at him.
“For too long we’ve put up with your anger about this entire situation,” Rufus continued. “She didn’t choose you, wolf. She chose me. Me. Yet you’re standing there waiting, for what? Her to come down and join you? Well, you’re too late. Our bond is too strong for that. She won’t join you—not today. Not ever.”
Axel still stared at Rufus. Not one growl or snarl emanated from him. That seemed to make Rufus more angry.
He spat on the ground. “Is this what you’re going to do? Stand here and wait for me to attack you? Is that what you want?”
Call him off.
The words sliced straight through me. My fingers shook; my lips trembled. My gaze snapped to Axel’s. The inky eyes stared at me, cutting right to my heart.
Tell him to stop or I will tear Rufus apart. I’ve come for you and only you. I don’t want to hurt anyone else.
The tether that bound us tightened. Axel was inside my head, invading my thoughts, permeating my body like a warm bath of water.
I fisted my hands. I cannot.
Do it. He’s about to throw magic. I will hurt him. I won’t mean to, but I have to defend myself. Come with me. Stop this before it happens.
No.
The wolf blinked and turned his focus to Rufus.
“Oh, now you want to play, wolf?” Rufus said.
He curled his hands and brought them to his chest. A ball of magic shot from Rufus and slammed into Axel’s chest.
The wolf flinched but held his ground.
“What? Was that not enough for you?” Rufus snarled. “Then let’s try this.”
Magic swirled around Rufus’s hands. It grew larger and larger. Lights blinked inside the mist as if Rufus held a mini galaxy in his grasp. He raised it high.
That will hurt, I said to Axel.
Not if you stop this.
“Well, wolf?” Rufus yelled. “Are you going to just stand here and let me destroy you?”
I rushed down the steps. I heard Saltz yell something behind me. But I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t let this continue. I had to end this fight before it started.
“Rufus, stop! He’ll attack! Stop!”
I reached Rufus and tugged on his arm. “Fighting won’t do any good.”
“Get out of here, Pepper,” Rufus snapped. He kept his gaze steady on Axel.
“I can’t. You can’t hurt each other. I won’t let you.”
Rufus’s jaw clenched. He slowly turned to me. Anger burned bright in his eyes. “Are you telling me this is okay? It’s okay that this werewolf just shows up to ruin our ceremony? To stop what you want?”
I shook my head. “No, of course not.”
“Because that’s how it sounds. It sounds like you’re saying it’s okay for Axel to ruin this for us. To ruin this chance we have.”
I shook my head. The blood drained from my body. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then let me do what needs to be done.”
While I spoke to Rufus, I became aware that a growing number of men were coming out of the forest, circling Axel.
They must’ve sneaked away from the crowd and decided to take him by surprise. Fear jacked up my spine. I didn’t want Axel harmed. No way. I couldn’t live with it if he was hurt.
I didn’t love him the way I loved Rufus, but that didn’t mean I wanted him hurt.
One of the men raised his hand, ready to throw magic on Axel.
“No,” I yelled.
Then everything happened slowly. Axel jerked around. I lunged forward. Rufus reached for me, but he’d forgotten about the magic he wielded.
His hand full of power touched my arm. The blast felt like an explosion. A shock wave hit me, and I flew into the air, catapulted toward the trees.
Axel lunged for Rufus and grabbed him in his jaws. The wolf shook Rufus like a rag doll before dropping him and running after me.
I landed on a mound of earth. The air flew from my lungs, and I gasped for more.
The werewolf reached me, and I held up my hand. “Don’t come any closer. You came here and have ruined this ceremony. If you take one more step toward me, I will shoot every bit of magic I have into you.”
The wolf watched me in silence and then dropped his head and disappeared into the forest.
I rose, brushed myself off and ran back to Rufus.
He lay unconscious. His cheek had been sliced open, and a gash on his chest looked bad but it wasn’t deadly.
People milled around him. “We have to heal him,” someone said.
Saltz shoved people out of his way. “Get him somewhere safe in case that wolf comes back. I’ll whisk him to the school.”
Saltz shot me a dark look. “And you should come too, Miss Dunn.”
I nodded numbly. This was my fault. All my fault. I should’ve slapped Axel or something when he kissed me, something that would have deterred him from doing anything like this. But as it was, Rufus was in bad shape, the soul bonding ceremony was ruined and I was to blame.
I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and nodded at Saltz. “I’m right behind you.”
Chapter 21
I sat in a parlor at the school of magic. A cup of now cold tea sat on a table beside me. Waiting to hear how Rufus was doing had become absolute agony.
Saltz had spoken to me before he whisked Rufus into a room and shut the door. “I have to make sure his injuries aren’t severe. If they are, there is more work that I’ll have to do. You must wait here. Being inside with me and worried about him won’t help the situation.”
I understood but I was still miserable. Miserable as I listened to a clock tick the seconds, and miserable while I picked at my cuticles, knowing I was ruining the magical manicure that Idie Claire had thrown in along with the hairstyle.
I sighed. What an absolute mess. I stared at the walls of the school, wishing that they held answers for me.
Suddenly the pocket doors of the room opened. Saltz strode out wearing crisp black scrubs. “Pepper.”
I rose and rushed to him, nearly collapsing onto the wizard. Foolish, I know. He couldn’t hold me up. Saltz wasn’t supposed to. I had to lift up myself.
“How is he?”
He took my hands and pointed to a divan. “Let’s sit.”
My stomach knotted. That didn’t sound good. I clutched onto him for dear life. “Well?”
“He’s stable,” Saltz finally said.
I exhaled a deep rush of air. “Thank the Lord.”
“But,” he added, “Rufus had a lot of damage to his neck. His bones and tendons. When the wolf picked him up, he did a lot of hurt.”
I back bowed, my shoulders sinking. “Oh no.”
Saltz squeezed my hand. “I was able to heal the damage, but I wanted to let you know. Rufus should be okay, but there is a chance that there may be a few lingering side effects. Nothing major, just possible pain when he turns his neck, that sort of thing. Magic can heal a lot, but it isn’t guaranteed.”
“You’ve done the best you can.”
Saltz nodded. “I have. And Rufus is a strong sorcerer. When he awakens, he may be able to fix what I couldn’t.”
“Can I see him?” The urge to look into Rufus’s eyes tugged at me. “I want to see him.”
Saltz patted my shoulder. “All in good time. For now he needs to rest, to get better. The sedative spell should wear off in a few hours. If he’s up to having visitors then, I’ll allow it. But for now, he needs sleep and you need rest, too.”
A thought niggled at me. “And the wedding? The soul ceremony?”
“I’m afraid that will have to be delayed. I don’t see how Rufus will be able to move forward with either ceremony tomorrow. I think we’re asking too much of him.”
“Thank you, Wizard Swift. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
He smiled sadly. “I just hope it’s enough.” He palmed his thigh and rose. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to look in on the patient. Your grandmother will want to know how Rufus is doing. You’ll need to contact her.”
I nodded. “I will.”
Betty and a throng of people had left the ceremony in search of Axel. What they would do when they found him, I didn’t know, but right now my thoughts were trained on Rufus and him getting well.
I curled my fingers into the divan’s cushion. It felt good to feel something resist the
force I was pushing into it. I pressed down until my fingers pushed past the cushion and hit the wooden frame.
Then I relaxed and decided that twisting my hair was a better use of my restless fingers.
“You look like you could use a job.”
I jerked back, frightened by the sound of a man’s voice. “Who’s there?”
“Here. Look up.”
I glanced up to see the disembodied head of Argus Amulet staring down at me.
“Argus,” was all I managed by way of greeting.
“I heard our boy was hurt. Is he okay?”
I nodded. “I think so. Saltz seems to think he’ll be fine, though he may suffer some permanent damage.”
The pain of it sliced through my gut. I folded over, the agony overtaking me. Tears threatened to rise, but I pushed them away.
It took a moment for me to collect myself. “I’m sorry, it’s just that it was scary and now Rufus is hurt and Axel is out there, somewhere. People are looking for him… What did he hope to accomplish?”
“I think that’s fairly obvious, don’t you?”
I stared up at Argus, at the kind green eyes. “What? To steal me away, convince me that I belong with him? Impossible. We’re too deep into the ceremony at this point.”
“Still, you can’t fault a werewolf for trying.” Argus cleared his throat. “I’m glad Rufus will be okay, relatively. But there is a larger problem here.”
“What’s that?”
“The problem with the wolf, my dear.”
“They’re looking for him.” I thought I had already explained that. “They should find Axel.”
“And what about when they do?” Argus practically cooed. “What then?”
“They’ll bring him in, and I’m sure he’ll be arrested for attacking Rufus?”
Argus tipped down his chin, his eyes piercing me, asking me if I really thought that’s what would happen.
What did the man want? What else could there be?
“And do you think that’s fitting?”
My gaze darted around the room as if the walls of the school of magic could help me. The dark oak held no answers. It seemed to offer more secrets than knowledge.
“I suppose that’s fitting. What does it matter?” I sighed, tired of all this. “Rufus and I will be married, and then we’ll leave. Be gone. Out of here. The wolf”—using the slang term for Axel made me shudder—“will be out of our lives. He won’t matter anymore.”
